Toxic A Final Fantasy XV One Shot
by UsernameToFollow
Summary: Gladio thinks that just because he's tough he's indestructible. He's proven wrong when the gang is left having to look after him one night. *Feel free to comment be it good or bad...or not it's really up to you*


The four sat in the Regalia, Ignis, as always, took the wheel with the prince and Gladio sat in the back, leaving Prompto in front to play with the radio. Between the Garulas they had been hunting through the morning and the pack of particularly ferocious Sabertusks that had ambushed them, the gang was rather tired and the atmosphere in the car was thoroughly subdued.

"You _were_ planning on choosing a station I assume." Ignis shot at the young DJ in the passenger's seat.

"Fine, this'll do." Prompto said as he abandoned the radio and reclined back into his seat. Prompto, not one to sit still for long, quickly turned around to talk to the guys in the back seat. As he leant over the headrest of his chair he realised he wasn't going to get much conversation out of a sleeping Noctis and a reading Gladio. Disappointed that his only choice for conversation was Ignis, Prompto returned to his seat and slouched down in a hump.

"Are you ok there Prom?" Ignis asked with little concern, all the while keeping his eyes on the road.

"Bored!"

"Ah. I'm sorry that the car isn't as exciting as you'd like."

"It might be more exciting if you let me drive."

"Never." Ignis replied barely managing to contain his laughter. Prompto continued to sulk "It's not fair, I never get to drive."

"More importantly, you never get to crash." With that remark, Prompto decided that staring out at the late afternoon scenery would be more fun than putting up with Ignis' insults about his driving. For the next five minutes, Ignis was practically in heaven, everyone was quiet and more importantly, safe. Ignis had even allowed himself to tune almost everything out and was virtually driving on autopilot. He was so content that he almost missed the thud coming from the back seat.

"What was that?" He asked Prompto, not wanting to turn around himself. Prompto, who was eager for anything to occupy him, had already spun around before the question had ended.

"Nothing, I think Gladio just dropped his book."

"You think?"

"Well he's fallen asleep and I can't see his book so I guess that's what happened."

"What are you guys talking about?" Noctis asked as he woke up.

"Ahh. Look who's awake." Prompto said jokingly, Noctis' penchant for napping was a common source of jokes among the group. "We were just wondering what that thud was, but I think Gladio just dropped his book."

"You're probably right there Prom." Noctis said as he noticed Gladio's book lying on the floor of the car and leant over to pick it up. He placed the book on the seat next to his friend as he noticed something else, beads of sweat on the big guy's forehead. Noctis couldn't quite understand how Gladio could be sweating, the roof of the Regalia was down and evening was setting in.

"Are you guys hot?" Noctis asked the two men in the front of the car.

"No. Are you Noct?" Ignis asked with a concerned tone.

"No, Gladio's sweating and I wasn't sure if I was just cold."

"Sweating? Hmm?" Ignis questioned as he looked at his friend in the rear-view mirror. "Does he look pale to you?" He asked, half turning to Prompto who was moving to face the back seat. Prompto, of course, hadn't noticed Gladio looking pale when he'd turned around a minute prior, but Ignis' senses were highly attuned to his friends' well-being.

"Umm...Not really, but what do I know?" Prompto replied, not sure if that was the answer he should have given. Ignis said nothing but looked back in the rear-view mirror, he wasn't entirely content with Prompto's answer but he thought it best to leave the matter alone for now. Noctis had other ideas as he leant across and put a hand on his friend's forehead, it was an action that felt pretty alien to him but he was glad he'd done it.

Noctis leant forward in between the two front seats "I don't know about pale but he's definitely warm."

"Well we're not far from a campsite should we set up for the night before heading to Hammerhead in the morning?" Ignis phrased this like a question but the other two knew that was merely a formality and they had no say in the matter.

"Sure." Noctis replied, the answer too was just a formality, he then leant back in his seat looking at his friend. "Should we wake him up?"

"No need. Not until we reach the camp that is." Ignis replied as he took a turn in the road plotting a mental path in his head to the nearest campsite. After several silent minutes of driving Ignis pulled into the side of the road, the campsite was only two hundred or so yards away.

Noctis went to wake Gladio but the halt of the engine had already seemed to cause him to stir, and he turned to Noctis who was the only member left in the car "We at Hammerhead already?" Gladio asked when he realised the group had come to a stop, but before realising they were in the middle of nowhere.

"No, we've stopped for camp." Noctis said as he gestured a nod towards Ignis and Prompto who were getting the supplies out of the trunk. "Are you ok?"

"Who me, I'm fine" Gladio scoffed as he got out of the car and went to help with the unpacking of supplies.

"That's where we're inclined to disagree with you." Ignis said gently pushing the larger man away from the car.

"Oh yeah, and why would that be?" Gladio said as he tried re-approaching the car.

"Well according to his Highness, you have a fever."

"Well according to _me_ I'm fine." Gladio snapped as he picked up the tents and headed off towards the campsite.

Noctis placed a hand on his advisor's shoulder "Ignore him, Iggy, you know what he's like, he thinks just because he's strong he can't be sick."

"Hey, can we go set up the camp now, then Iggy can make dinner." Prompto interjected picking up his share of the supplies, or maybe a little less than his share.

Ignis closed the trunk and locked the regalia as the three followed Gladio's path towards the camp. The three closed the distance faster than they were expecting, in fact, they found themselves overtaking the member with the longest strides.

Prompto turned to the trailing bodyguard "You sure you're ok Gladdy?"

"I'm fine, still waking up is all." Gladio was glad they were heading to the camp so he could set about putting up the tents and be left alone. However, while they were still more than fifty yards away Gladio found himself dropping the tents and bracing himself with his hands on his knees, it took no time for the others to be at his side.

"You ok big guy?" Noctis asked as he helped his friend into a more upright position.

"I'm fine Noct." Gladio failed to convince anyone but placed a reassuring hand on the prince's shoulder before going to pick up the dropped tents. As he leant over he wasn't sure he'd be able to stand back up, for a second everything spun and he dropped to one knee.

"Yeah, you're really fine." Prompto said as he picked up some of the dropped things making up for his light load from the car, as he did so Noctis and Ignis helped their friend to his feet.

"Noct, why don't you help Prompto take the supplies to the campsite, I'll help Gladio."

"The hell you will." Gladio barked as he shook off his friend's hands from his arm.

"Do you plan on collapsing all the way to the campsite?" Ignis tried to reason with his friend as he collected the last of the things and began to follow in the direction of the two younger men.

"I'll be fine." Gladio snarled as he started off in the same direction, Ignis waited for him and slowed down to his pace walking beside him ready to intervene if necessary. A few moments later they reached the campsite where Prompto and Noctis had set up the chairs and begun to assemble the tent.

"What are you guys doing?" Gladio's deep voice called across to them, he always set up the tent and he didn't take too kindly to people doing his tasks.

"You didn't think you'd be building the tent?" Ignis said with his patented blend of firmness and caring. Before Gladio could say that yes, he did indeed think that, Ignis had set his friend into one of the canvas chairs around what would soon be the campfire. Ignis placed his hand on his friend's forehead and was saddened to find that Noctis' statement that Gladio was warm was an understatement, he was burning up.

Gladio swatted away his friend's hand "Watch it, Iggy your hands are pretty useful I wouldn't want to break one of them." Just then the tent crew arrived and sat down on the other chairs they'd set up.

"Say, Noct suppose you could start a fire, it's getting quite dark." Ignis asked so the prince took some wood and roughly arranged the logs on the floor, one quick fire spell and the fire was burning nicely.

"I'm so hungry." Prompto complained, he acted as though the complaint wasn't directed at anyone in particular but he shot Ignis a very telling look as he whined. Ignis went to start making dinner but not before handing Gladio a bottle of water and once again checking his temperature, no attempt to swat his hand away was made this time. Instead, Gladio just looked up at his friend "You don't need to baby me, Iggy."

"I'd hardly call this babying Gladio. You're burning up, I don't like this."

"I'll be fine, it's probably one of those twenty-four-hour things. Some food and a good night's sleep and I'll be right as rain." Ignis realised that was the closest to an admission of weakness he was going to get so he went over to his cooking station as the others sat around the campfire.

Noctis and Prompto were talking amongst themselves deciding it was best to leave Gladio be that was until they heard a drop and a splash, they looked over to see that the noise was caused by the open water bottle hitting the floor, their friend slouched forward with his head between his knees.

Prompto was the first at his side shaking him by the shoulder "Gladdy, are you ok?" No reply, "A yes would be nice." By this point, Ignis had noticed the situation and quickly taken the pot of stew off the boil and had come to join his friends. He knelt in front his friend and shook him a little more forcefully than Prompto had attempted "Gladio!" This time they received a response in the form of Gladio's head lifting a few inches, with this Noctis gently pushed his friend into a sitting position. Gladio's eyes fluttered open, their amber colour clearly stood out against his pallid skin. Ignis, for a third time, gently placed his hand against the clammy forehead of his friend, he was even hotter than before, worryingly hot.

"You gave me a fright there big guy." Noctis said as he passed a new bottle of water to the man in the chair.

"Sorry. I just need some air." Gladio replied drinking almost the whole bottle without taking a breath.

"We're outside." Prompto replied unsure whether to be confused or concerned.

"I mean away from the fire." Slowly Gladio rose to his feet and took a few steps before he began to wobble. Noctis, who was closest, put one arm around his friend trying to brace him, but the second the prince's hand landed on Gladio's side the older gentlemen let out a wince and wasted no time in recoiling away from the contact. Immediately Ignis pulled back the flap of Gladio's shirt and all three men looked shocked, there was a painful looking laceration just below his ribs.

"Gladio, when did this happen?" Ignis asked his tone somewhere between anger and fear.

"I don't know. Could have been the Sabertusks, could have been the Garulas, we get into a lot of fights I can't keep track of every cut I get." Gladio replied with increasingly ragged breath.

"Well, it's obviously infected." Before Ignis could finish that sentence Gladio had begun falling to the floor. Usually if any of the others fell, Gladio was the one to catch them, which was rather easy, however, none of them managed to catch him and he landed on the floor with such force that it was painful to watch.

For a few seconds, they stood there in shock at a loss for what to do before Ignis remembered he'd been trained for situations exactly like this, only all those hypotheticals featured Noctis as the injured party. He quickly knelt beside Gladio and turned him onto his back, he noticed a cut on the man's head, nothing compared to the one on his side but he still wanted to bandage it before moving onto the bigger issue. He instructed Noctis to fetch the first aid kit and turned to give Prompto some instruction when he noticed the youngest of the group returning with blankets and pillows, Ignis was pleasantly surprised with the initiative and gently lifted Gladio's head allowing Prompto to place a pillow underneath.

Noctis returned with the first aid kit and Ignis quickly cleaned and bandaged the head wound, making sure that this would not, under any circumstances, become infected. He then took another bandage and poured some water on it, after wringing some of the excess water out he placed it on Gladio's forehead hoping this would do some help in bringing down the fever. He then turned his attention to the cut that was plainly the cause of all of this. He lifted Gladio's shirt and begun to clean the wound, the big guy left out a few mild winces but didn't quite wake completely.

"That doesn't look so good." Prompto said as he sat down with Noctis and watched Ignis tend to the situation.

"I'm afraid it isn't." Ignis replied as he applied a bandage to the freshly cleaned wound. He then opened the first aid kit and looked for something to help, he pulled out an antidote, and turned to Noctis "Could you try sitting him up for me there Noct?"

Noctis knelt behind Gladio and gently lifted him by the shoulders moving him into an upright position with Gladio leaning against Noctis' trunk to remain upright. It was then that Noctis truly felt how badly his friend was burning up, he was warm earlier but this was something else, he shot a concerned look at Ignis who was opening the antidote bottle "You sure that'll work Iggy?"

"I can only hope, it's not as if we have any antibiotics to cure the infection." Ignis placed a hand under Gladio's chin as he carefully tipped back his head and brought the bottle to his lips. Ignis felt a brief wave of relief when he found Gladio easily accepting the elixir. "Ok, Noct lay him back down. Carefully now." Ignis placed another cold compress on his friend's forehead and returned to the dinner he had been cooking, trusting the other two to keep a watchful eye on Gladio's condition.

By now the sun had entirely set, Ignis continued with dinner and sent Prompto to retrieve some more firewood, Noctis stayed with Gladio changing the compress when he deemed it too warm to be effective. It wasn't even ten o'clock but the sombre tone made it feel as if it were the middle of the night. Almost fifteen minutes passed before Prompto returned with armfuls of firewood.

"You're back. I thought I was going to have start burning your clothes to keep the fire going." Noctis joked to his friend who put the wood on the floor before adding a few pieces to the fire and sitting down.

"I wasn't gone that long."

"It usually only takes five minutes when..." When Gladio does it, was how Noctis was planning on ending that sentence, but he thought better of it as he looked at his friend lying on the ground. "Should we get him inside the tent Iggy?"

"I shouldn't think so. Unless you believe you can carry him." With that Ignis approached with two bowls of stew handing one each to the younger men. After handing over the dinner he knelt beside Gladio and gently roused him, this proved easier than Ignis was worried it would.

"Iggy? What's going on?" Gladio asked raising a hand to his head where he found a bandage.

"I'm afraid you fainted." Ignis replied as he helped his friend up and into a seat, he then went over to his cooking station and returned with a further two bowls of stew one of which he handed to Gladio along with a potion. "Here drink this, it won't help with the infection but it should heal the wound."

"Thanks Iggy." Gladio said as he drank the potion and slowly began to eat his dinner, very slowly compared to the speed with which he usually inhaled his meals.

Prompto and Noctis took it upon themselves to talk and keep the tone around the campfire light, despite the fact that the whole party was physically and emotionally drained. Gladio had once again fallen asleep and Ignis was clearing up after dinner when Noctis called over to him. "Iggy, I think he's shivering," sweating one minute, shivering the next, Noctis was concerned to say the least. Ignis was quickly beside them and taking the older man's temperature. "His fever's broken." Ignis allowed himself to breathe properly for the first time since they parked. "That must mean the antidote was actually somewhat effective against the infection." As Ignis stood up straight he noticed Prompto returning to his side, not that he'd noticed Prompto leaving.

"I've put some extra blankets in his tent." Ignis really was pleased with Prompto's behaviour tonight, he must remember to say something later. Ignis and Noctis exchanged silent looks and both carefully stood Gladio up, who awoke as they did, and helped him over to his tent.

Noctis laid several blankets over his shivering bodyguard and gave him a light playful punch on his shoulder. "That's for scaring me. You know you're not allowed to die, unless it's because you took a bullet for me."

"I'll bear that in mind" Gladio said as he reached a muscular arm out ruffling the prince's hair and pushing him at the same time. At this Noctis wished his friend a good night and left to re-join Prompto at the campfire. Ignis once again took the big guys temperature, purely out of habit this time rather than being curious. "Get a good night's rest Gladio" Ignis said tenderly as he left but before he shut the tent flap he turned to his friend. "And don't think we shan't be talking about your decision to keep being mauled a secret."

As the tent shut Gladio let out a chuckle and allowed sleep to claim him, feeling a sense of warmth from the care his friends had shown him that night.


End file.
